1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for managing data streams. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing the recording and play back of media data streams.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an “internetwork”, is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from a protocol of the sending network to a protocol used by the receiving network. When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply “the Web”. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify “links” to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a “page” or a “Web page”, is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web “browser”. A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name system (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
The Internet also is widely used to transfer applications to users using browsers. With respect to commerce on the Web, individual consumers and business use the Web to purchase various goods and services. In offering goods and services, some companies offer goods and services solely on the Web while others use the Web to extend their reach.
Users exploring the Web have discovered that the content supported by the HTML document format on the Web was too limited. Other types of format received by users on the Web include audio and video broadcasts. Browsers currently include media players, which may be added as plug-ins to provide for the play back of these types of broadcasts. A plug-in is an auxiliary program that works with a major software package to enhance its capability. For example, plug-ins are widely used in image editing programs such as Photoshop to add a filter for some special effect. Plug-ins are added to Web browsers to enable them to support new types of content, such as audio and video.
Currently, media players do not provide an ability to later play back one time events broadcast over the Internet, such as a news program, when the source of the event does not provide a saved version of the event for users to play at a later time. In some cases, the event may only be available for a short period of time. When a user attempts to replay the event, the event may no longer be available. A user may be able to replay an event by searching through temporary Internet files if available. In some cases, the user may not be able to find the event if the temporary Internet files have been cleared. Additionally, a user would have to restore or move the file, once the user finds the file, to another location for more persistent storage of the event. Such a process is tedious and requires a user to have some knowledge of the file system and directory structures of the operating system.
Additionally, the formatted media broadcast over the Internet varies depending on the source. For example, for video, Moving Pictures Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2), MPEG-4, and Motion Joint Photographic Experts Group (M-JPEG), RealVideo, and Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) are some formats in which video is broadcast over the Internet. For audio only, MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3) and RealAudio are examples of some formats in which audio, such as music, is broadcast over the Internet. Currently, a user is required to have an appropriate media player for each of the formats that may be received. The operating system on a data processing system associates a file type with a particular media player or plug-in. In this manner, the user does not have to select a program or player each time a different type of format is received in a media data stream broadcast over the Internet. This, however, requires the user to have each of the media players or plug-ins required for each format.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for receiving and capturing media streams broadcast over the Internet.